Mobile Handheld Usability Testing Why It Matters How To Achieve A Winning Online Presence Affordable Website Design In Manchester A Shrubbery For Web Back Up

Mobile phone and PDA usability testing is critical to your business. In fact, mobile and handheld usability testing could be even more important than computer-based usability testing. The main reasons for this are:

– The number of people accessing the Internet from mobile and handheld devices is increasing at a massive rate – in 2008 alone there’ll be an estimated 58 million PDAs sold worldwide (source: eTForecast).

– People generally have a lot less experience of using their mobile to go online than they do of using their computer. This means that computer-based users can be assumed to have a higher level of existing expertise than mobile and handheld users.

– The platform through which users access your site is far less predictable when using mobile phones. Computer-based site visitors generally only differ from one another in their browser and operating system (i.e. most people will use a screen, mouse and keyboard), whereas the different types of mobile phones and PDAs differ can drastically.

Which mobile phones and PDAs do you need to consider?

Mobile phones and PDAs can differ from one another dramatically, and this will radically change how people experience and use websites. Some of the ways in which handheld devices can differ include:

– Screen size (small vs. large)

– Screen layout (portrait vs. landscape)

– Input device (stylus, numeric keypad, dial-wheel, QWERTY keypad)

Because the mobile phone / PDA that someone is using will have such a profound effect on their experience of your site, you should try to test with as many mobile phones and PDAs as possible.

Of course, testing with every mobile phone and PDA is impossible. Here are some ideas to help narrow down the number of devices you’ll need to test with:

– Your mobile site visitors may belong to a specific audience. Certain audiences tend to prefer particular types of phones (e.g. phones with big screens that are designed to support online access vs. small-screen models that aren’t).

– There are ‘phone families’ that offer a very similar user experience (and will not need to be tested individually).

– You may only want to test with the most popular mobile phones in Europe or the most popular models that are being used to access your site (you can check your site statistics to find out this information).

Who do you want to test with?

The people you want to conduct your mobile phone usability testing sessions with will, of course, depend on your particular business and its audience. Some things to bear in mind include:

– How much experience they should have of using their mobile phones to access services. This is particularly important as the market for accessing online services through mobile phones is growing and the percent of ‘complete novices’ (i.e. people using the technology for the first time) will be far higher than for computer users of your website.

– Which mobile phone or PDA they have. We would usually recommend that people use their own mobile phone in a session, so the test can focus on your website and not on the way the handheld device works.

Where should mobile usability testing sessions be conducted?

Mobile phones and PDAs are used in the real world so usability testing of handheld devices should therefore not only take place in a usability laboratory.

Where, when and how a mobile phone is used is critical to a person’s experience of the site they are accessing. Any of the following circumstances could influence this experience and therefore considerations of the site’s usability:

– Lighting

– Background noise

– Distractions

– Concurrent tasks (i.e. anything the person is doing at the same time)

– Physical movement

As such, we’d recommend, if possible, that any mobile phone and PDA usability testing is conducted both in a laboratory and also in the ‘outside world’.

How you plan and run mobile phone usability sessions will be based on your business and its audience, but the most popular methods of mobile usability testing include:

– Lab-based (using a camera to record the session)

– Diary-studies (asking people to keep a diary of how they have used their mobile phone and any problems they encounter)

– Paper prototypes (running usability testing on a paper-based version of the site, using mobile phone screen-sized pieces of paper)

In the online world of the Internet whether you like it or not your initial success is about 80% dependent on your image. If you think image is important to success in real world business, then just think how much more important it is to online business where your success literally depends on what your visitors see on a computer screen! Just think about that for a moment.

To succeed you simply must communicate the right image, period!

Anything less will fail. You’ll simply loose the edge!

Give yourself the Best Possible Chance: Use a Professional Web Design Service!

A professional looking and stylish web design helps to establish a strong, positive online presence. In the visually competitive world of cyberspace where first impressions and image do battle on the front line, it’s hardly surprising that a strong, positive presence plays a vital part in internet success! It’s true there are many web site design programs, tutorials, and online site builders available on the Internet, but nothing quite compares to the expertise and experience of a professional web site designer.

First Impressions are VERY Important!

It is vitally important that your web site conveys the right image and with maximum impact. You never get a second chance with a first impression, and nowhere is this truer than on the Internet where everything is visual! It has been proven that you have no more than six seconds to grab a visitor’s attention. Therefore if your web site lacks that “professional look”, and communicates the wrong message, you will almost certainly loose out on many potential customers.

Communicate Nothing but Professionalism right from the Start!

Your web site conveys a great deal more information about you and your business than you might at first expect. Most of this information is communicated on a subliminal level just below consciousness, but make no mistake: it IS communicated.

If your web site looks disorganized or over busy; if it has no sense of style, no visual flow or co-ordination, then you will be seen in a similar light. You will come across as disorganized, indecisive, un-professional, lacking control, and without sense of purpose – do you really think you’ll be taken seriously?!

Now contrast that with a web site that looks stylish, organized, structured, polished and professional. A web site like that just oozes success! What subliminal message does it send to visitors? Simple: the person or persons behind this site are seen as being well organized, positive, competent, decisive and above all SUCCESSFUL!

Granted, there are other factors involved in running a successful online business such as content, products, reputation etc., but there is no getting away from the fact that image is the initial front line influencer. The message or image that is conveyed in the first few seconds a visitor sees your web site is crucial to whether they stay or leave. Any other factors only come into play IF they stay! Never ever underestimate the power of first impressions, especially online!

The Power of Subliminal Visual Communication!

Using a professional web designer will give your web site that professional look, the edge, that “something extra”, that indefinable quality that attracts visitors and captures attention. So what exactly is it, this indefinable something extra…?

It’s something that professional designers have a knack for; they instinctively know how to arouse curiosity and capture attention through artistic design and visual communication. This is something that most of us just can’t quite grasp; we know it when we see it, but we’re not quite sure why.

Have you ever looked at a web site and thought: wow, that’s a great looking site! If you have, have you ever wondered exactly why it impressed you so much? Chances are it wasn’t down to the high quality photographs or that the fonts or graphics were particularly striking. In actual fact it’s far more subtle than that and is rarely down to one single factor.

This is the power of subliminal communication in action. It is a combination of many factors all communicating at the subliminal level that arouses your attention. Skillful colour co-ordination for one can be a powerful attention arouser. And then there are the many subtleties of page composition; the way in which various shapes, blocks of colour and text, all relate to one another on the page. All these visual cues have a direct impact, and ultimately influence how your senses process the page. Very skillful page composition can even lead the eye in a predetermined direction – how powerful is that?!

Are You Getting Negative First Impressions?

So if your web site isn’t attracting the amount of traffic and attention you’d like, it really could be down to negative first impressions. It can be that simple! So many people fail to see this, yet it is so obvious. They spend weeks or even months pondering over why they’re not generating the traffic or making the sales. Then out of sheer frustration they begin tweaking their web pages in a desperate attempt to rank higher in the search engines! It really doesn’t matter how many visitors you get to your site: if they don’t like what they first see – they will leave!

So take a hard long objective look at you web site as if for the first time: does it instantly attract you, arouse your curiosity, does it communicate professionalism, competence etc.? Be brutally honest with yourself. If the answer is no or you’re not sure, then it may be time for a design face-lift and a new positive image.

With the continually falling prices of web design services, it now makes perfect sense for anyone who’s serious about their online business to enlist the expertise of a professional designer. If you really want to give yourself the best possible chance of online success, then you must use only the best possible design technology. So get the Professional edge, and WIN!!

If you have a business, big or small you may be thinking of getting yourself a website.

The world wide web is another way of spreading your message or selling your product.

First you need to find somebody or a company to build and design your website. Some web designers charge a huge amount of money so it is quite difficult to make the right choice. Due to the high number of people offering these web design services, you should be able to get a cheap and affordable deal.

One area you could try first is online auction websites such as ebay. There may well be a new company who is just starting out and who are looking at building up a portfolio. They may well at this early stage be offering their services quite cheaply. This method also applys to web promotion and optimisation/optimization.

Alternativerly I advise people to look into the yellow pages, look on the internet or ask family and friends if they know of anybody.

You are normally able to find somebody who will do a very good job and will design you a professional looking website at an affordable price.

Always look at the portfolio page and have a look at the websites they have already built. It might be worth seeing what the page rank of these websites are like and you are also looking to see if you like the style.

Once the web designer has built your website ask them if they would add a link from their homepage to your new website. Also ask them if they would submit the site to all of the search engines.

Most of the people follow your website on two ways from own promotions, from search engines A number of research show that all web users depend on search for guidance on the net. So, one of the most probable route user will take for your website is through search engines. Especially, e-fuzion sites often get a sale from users browsing through their catalog. e-fuzion differs from other websites in having confirmation and fulfillment stages that follow up on user’s initial visit. Closing the first sale is one of the most important drivers of subsequent ecommerce sales. So in this case Web Design Delhi consultancy optimizes for search engine which will lead to increase in online business. While usability features are primarily intended for the end users, a designer should also think of the search engine robots that will regularly come to visit the site, to index and refresh its pages. In order priority, the five most important usability features a designer should always implement in web site.

That’s ease of routing, simplicity and intuitiveness, clearly indicated menus and links, a well-designed site map, clean uncluttered design. A well designed navigation had two benefits. Which helps the users to find better index the inside site. Web Design Delhi consultancy always conscious for design a good sight map. It makes sure the site map is directly linked to the homepage. Web Design Delhi consultancy makes sure that the site map link is a text link. Make sure that site map page does not exceed indexation limit. Web Design Delhi consultancy (e-fuzion) provides big strategies to design web sites neat and cleanly.